Samsung to seven-fold OLED production of OLED panels for Apple

Samsung Display is seeking a seven-fold increase in OLED production for Apple this year, with the new facilities starting operations this month.

The display-making unit of Samsung Electronics has installed seven production lines at its A3 plant dedicated to Apple orders only. With the expansion, the monthly capacity will surge from 15,000 sheets of the sixth-generation OLED to 105,000 sheets.

Samsung invested 9.8 trillion won (US$ billion) in the A3 plant last year that produces an additional 300,000 OLED sheets for Samsung Electronics and some Chinese handset makers. In the first half of this year, another 8.7 trillion won was poured into the plant.

The iPhone lines at its full capacity are set to produce 124 million units of the 6-inch screen and 130 million units of the 5.8-inch screen. But due to Apple’s stiff technology requirements, sources said, the yield rate has been lowered to some 60 percent, as compared to 80 percent for Samsung Electronics.